Moby Dick in Progress

Yesterday I started work on an illustration I'm doing for a forth-coming zine inspired by libraries. I had free reign to do what I wanted so I thought I'd have a crack at Herman Melville's classic 'Moby Dick'. I think conceptually a book coming to life is probably a wee bit tired but I wanted to see what I could do with it all the same and I'm reasonably happy with it although unsure whether to add a sprawling nautical back-drop or leave it fairly simple.

Anyway here are some progress shots. More information on the zine as and when I get it.

First up I penciled in some rough lines - I didn't really have anything to work from for the whale - I knew I wanted to keep to the classic Moby Dick illustrations in terms of teeth and vague structure but that was about it.

I started adding some texture to the whale trying to reign it in a bit (always a challenge for me) as Moby Dick is white. I'm not entirely happy with the blow-hole but then who in all honesty is happy with their blow-hole?

Next came some waves something I've been having problems with of late. I wanted the waves to appear to change into words towards the edge of the page - it sort of works I think.

A bit more detail on the book itself.

Then I started on Captain Ahab and his crew - this was very tricky as I didn't have much room to work with. I'd penciled in a Captain Ahab already but he got a bit lost under Moby Dick so I had to pencil him in again at the rear of the boat and he didn't come out quite as well. In hindsight I should've started with some other crew members first to get my eye in - Ahab is probably the weakest looking of the bunch.

I added a tiny bit more detail to the whale.

And then the rest of the water - I'm aware that there is quite a difference between one side of the wave and the other - it was a conscious decision to create a calmer crest of the wave for the boat to be sitting on but it may look a bit odd as a result.

Finally I added some wood texture to the boat.

And then discovered I had no rubber so proceeded to search around the house for some kind of eraser. Ignoring the untouched rainbow coloured 'Fan Wood Campsite' rubber I discovered at the back of a draw I ended up using an eraser I found on the end of a pencil determined not to go into town just for the sake of buying a new one. Fortunately it worked.